Same Sex Marriage would seem to be something that’s not controversial today – but then you haven’t met Odin.
This older African American man was sitting on a fire hydrant at the corner of 14th and Broadway in Downtown Oakland holding a sign that reads “No Unlawful Sex,” and lists all of the kinds of sex that the man sees as, well, not legal. At the top of his list is same-sex marriage, although he thinks marriage before sex is just as bad, which pretty much means we’re all in trouble.
The man’s name is Odin. I’ve never met him before; our video conversation was totally impromptu. I was walking down Broadway on the way to Awaken Cafe, and just prior to a Chabot Observatory event at Oakland City Hall. As I was about to cross, I looked over at him and asked if I could video interview him, he said yes.
Just as I turned on my new Samsung SMX-F80 Camcorder, Odin launched into his diatribe of “No unlawful sex.” I asked him why he cared what someone did in their bedroom, and he said that God told him to be out there, as how we should conduct ourselves is “in the book.”
What gets me about folks like Odin is they forget that Jesus Christ died to protect us from being punished for our sins. Thus, if you think same sex marriage is a sin, even then, you should not seek to punish those who the Lord is prepared to forgive. I didn’t get the chance to make that case to Odin as, and this is no slam on my new camcorder but my fault, it ran out of battery power.
I was so intent on recording the man, I forgot to check to see how much power I had left. So, I went to charge the device, but when I returned, Odin was gone.
Maybe I’ll get a chance to talk with him again.
Stay tuned.